Beanhunter is an app that has been released by a company based in Melbourne, having released their Beanhunter iOS app a fair while ago, they have received many requests for an Android version which they released just in time for Christmas last year. The app which allows you to find cafes near you (or anywhere in the world), read and write reviews about cafes in their extensive database or add cafes if they aren`t, it also allows you to save your favourite cafes for quick access on your phone or online. I’ve been playing with it for a while and quite frankly i’m enjoying it.
The interface is fairly clean and easy to use, the options and everything are there and easily accessible. It has been based off the iOS version but this is not a bad thing as it is a fairly well thought out interface and all the things you need to find are right there in the open. The one thing I feel needs to be cleaned up is the signup page which points you to “http://iphone.beanhunter.com”. This is purely a niggle but if you`re going to release an app to multiple platforms, change this to “http://MOBILE.beanhunter.com” so you`re not alienating platforms either now with Android or in the future if you intend to bring Windows Phone7 or Blackberry apps out in the future.
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The App is ad supported and as you can see from the screenshot above, the ad is actually in what I see as an odd position, appearing right in the middle of the screen. Personally I prefer to have ads located at the bottom of the screen, which is where most ad supported apps I have used place the ad and again, this isn`t a huge detraction it’s just something to get used to but if Beanhunter is looking for feedback then this would be a good thing to change in my opinion.
As this is a crowdsourced application, the information contained within the Beanhunter database is only as good as the information that users submit. When adding a new cafe you`re required to provide basic information such as address and contact details and also information on type of bean’s and equipment used. All submissions for new cafe’s are sent to Beanhunter for approval which gives them the ability to maintain a high level of quality for entries in their database.
All in all it`s a fairly good app, I enjoy using it, it has so far remained installed on my phone through quite a few wipes so that tells me it`s something I enjoy using, also I love using apps created by Aussies and i`m all for supporting aussie developers.
